Loco-regional capacitive hyperthermia

This kind of hyperthermia is used in combination with radiation therapy, chemotherapy, or both, to treat cancerous tumors at different depths, depending on the patient’s weight and on the thickness of the adipose tissue.
The heat is generated by an oscillating electromagnetic field in the area of the body located between the two active electrodes.

The method called „capacitive” takes its name from the fact that, technically, the tissue is, for the oscillating electromagnetic field, a specific capacitor.

The spatial distribution of the electromagnetic field is similar to a sphere, and therefore the greatest energy concentration occurs in the immediate proximity of each of the active electrodes. Therefore, in order to warm the deeper tissues, the electrodes are equipped with water boluses with a wide range of water cooling. The deeper the treatment area is located, the greater must be the power applied and the stronger the cooling. The capacitive method is also called „loco-regional” because this technology heats the entire region between the electrodes without „millimetrical” precision in the outline of the target area.

diagram of the magnetic field distribution